Different
by Ailu
Summary: Sophitia, Cassandra, and Lucius have always been different.


Different

By: Ailu

Summary: Sophitia, Cassandra, and Lucius have always been different.

A/N: There's really not much to explain here. Just to tell you, Sophitia is 4 years older than Cassandra and in the _Misadventure _universe (which this is set in), Cassandra is 4 years older than Lucius. Enjoy!

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_We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same._" -Anne Frank

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Sophitia first realized how different she was from Cassandra when she was eight. The four-year-old Cassandra had cut her own hair to a very short length. She claimed it was "easier"... Sophitia remembered her mother being horrified. 

Sophitia's hair was long and she thought _that _was easier; she could braid it so it didn't get in her eyes. It seemed odd to her sister had a different point of view. And then she realized that Cassandra had always had different opinions on well… just about everything.

She could remember when Cassandra was born—she had been four. Her mother had given her the tiny bundle to hold and Sophitia had been in awe of the small baby in her arms. She could barely hold her up, but Cassandra just stared at her with her humongous green eyes. Sophitia was fascinated with her eyes; they just seemed so big on that tiny face.

After that, Sophitia hardly left Cassandra alone. She definitely preferred helping care her mother care for the baby than playing with the other kids. Sophitia and Cassandra slept in the same room, and Sophitia was usually able to comfort her sister when she woke up at night. Momma would often comment about what a good sleeper Cassandra was compared to Sophitia, teasing her older daughter good-naturedly.

Cassandra had first smiled when Sophitia had been playing peek-a-boo with her. This was one of Sophitia's favorite things about her baby sister—her smile. She would always do her best to make Cassandra grin: sticking her tongue out, making funny noises, or smiling at her. When Cassandra started to laugh, Sophitia tried even harder to make her sister happy.

After Sophitia turned five, Cassandra had taken her first steps. After she had begun to walk, she would follow Sophitia around as well as she could manage. Sophitia would slow down her pace to accommodate the baby, but it was worth it.

Cassandra's first word had been "teeth". Momma was disappointed at this, but soon after Cassandra had started saying "Mah" and Momma seemed to take this as her name. "Pa" came soon after. Sophitia had never really understood how delighted they were until Cassandra had begun to say "So".

This was Sophitia's name until Cassandra turned four and decided she was much too big for baby names. When she had first began to say it, Sophitia frequently recalled her shrieking "So!" and throwing up her small, pudgy hands. When she did this, Sophitia would hug her and lift her up as best as she could, but it was only two or three inches off the floor. Despite this, Cassandra seemed to love the game.

When she started to say sentences, she would talk nonstop. "So! Cass 'un'gy. So! Food good. So! Cass 'anna go play!" Sophitia never got annoyed with the constant noise, even when Momma and Papa seemed to. She loved hearing her sister talk.

Sophitia helped her mother start to teach Cassandra how to count. It wasn't hard—Cassandra was a bright child, always wanting to know more. She asked questions all the time. Sophitia would always answer as best she could or go ask her parents.

Around the time they started teaching her to count, Cassandra began to get into trouble. She wasn't docile like Sophitia; she was firey and stubborn. Cassandra would talk back to Momma and Papa or even scream at Sophitia when she was angry or frustrated. Though she would always apologize later—and that must have been hard for her, being the stubborn thing she was—this scared Sophitia.

When she was three, Cassandra got very angry with her parents. Sophitia couldn't even remember why, but she had gone around the house knocking _everything _over. The three-year-old had gotten in big trouble.

After Cassandra turned four, another baby came along and Sophitia was just as taken with him as she had been with the last one. Cassandra adored him as well, but never doted on him the way Sophitia did. This time, Sophitia was able to be far more involved with the care, being older, and helped as often as she could. Cassandra avoided helping—she just didn't enjoy it all that much. She much preferred to make a mess of herself playing outside with the other children.

This didn't mean Cassandra wasn't close to her brother—it was quite the opposite, especially when he got older. Lucius and Cassandra were closer in personality to each other than either one was to Sophitia. They were definitely the mischiefmakers of the family; they were always in trouble for _something_. Sophitia was the sensible presence to round off the trio, but somehow they would frequently manage to sneak by her.

Whenever Sophitia caught them doing something wrong, she would scold them and make sure they felt guilt over their crime—or at least appeared to—but she would never tell on them. It seemed wrong to tattle on your siblings. The idea seemed to break some sort of unspoken code of honor.

While Sophitia was the voice of reason of the three, Cassandra seemed to be the leader in a sense. She was the brave one, always ready to leap into action at any sign of adventure. Lucius followed her without question. Sophitia though Lucius needed to think for himself a bit more, but this didn't mean he wasn't his own person. He was very much a gardener in his nature—he was fascinated with things that grew. He was curious like Cassandra, but in a more passive way. He'd read for hours upon hours through mounds of material to find a single fact. Despite this, he was a very active boy—he spent much of his day outside with his sister. They'd play with the children who lived nearby, usually races or tag games. Sophitia preferred to stay indoors and help.

When Lucius started school, the house seemed oddly empty for a while. Cassandra moped during the day despite Sophitia's attempts to keep her busy. Lucius couldn't have been happier. He would try to teach Cassandra everything he had learned every single day, but she couldn't seem to sit still long enough. After she departed, Sophitia would always listen as attentively as she could whilst she was doing some chore. Lucius seemed pleased to ramble on to anyone who would listen no matter how divided their attention was.

When Cassandra started to sulk, Momma and Papa seemed to think it was time for the girls to start helping in the bakery. Sophitia didn't like the bakery. The kitchen was hot and muggy, despite the many windows. There was always two or more fires going at a time. Because of this, she usually worked the store front. However, Cassandra had a flair for cooking and loved doing it. She could spend endless hours in that hot, muggy kitchen, seemingly immune to the discomfort.

They usually were sent home an hour or two after Lucius had arrived. He would greet them excitedly, telling them about something that went on at school. Sophitia would butter three pieces of bread and then sit down with the other two.

And so it always was. Sophitia was the responsible one—finding ways to help, taking care of everybody. Cassandra had told her once how she would be a great mother. Cassandra was the leader or sorts, vivacious and determined. Lucius was the bookish one, forever searching for answers.

They were quite a team, despite their divergent personalities. There was something that Sophitia learned that very same thing the same day Cassandra had cut her hair. They _were _different, that couldn't be denied.

What Sophitia had realized was that it just didn't matter.

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A/N (cont'd): I have tried to make the characters beleivable and in-character. Really. Sophitia seems a tad or more than a tad Mary Sueish, but it's very easy to make her one, especially when the story is completely from her P.O.V.! _Misadventure _displays her fallibility better. 

Kudos to every one of you who reviewed _Misadventure_. The comments you made pleased me a whole lot (I've read them over probably 50 times!). I hope _Different _is as enjoyable as its predecessor.

I am working on a multi-chapter fanfiction entitled _The Courting of Sophitia _set (once again) before Soul Edge. It departs a tad from canon concerning Rothion, but the idea wouldn't be left alone. So, anyway, that will be out as soon as I can get it right—I'm having some difficulty with the first chapter.

Till then!


End file.
